New hardware platform for OS4!!!

[Harrison]

Yes, you read this correctly. Finally new hardware is being made to run OS4.1!!!

This is being made by acube systems. The same company who are making the minimig. You can check their site out at http://www.acube-systems.biz/eng/index.php

The hardware is the Sam440ep Using an Soc AMCC 440ep processor (PPC processor and System on a Chip, produced my AMCC under license from IBM), with an integrated DDR memory controller (512MB max), PCI controller, Flash memory device control, USB 1 and 2 controller, Ethernet, serial ports etc... and in a miniITX form factor with integrated ATI Radeon Mobility M9 with 64MB graphics memory. So it looks like we will finally have some hardware that will be worth running OS4 on.

And this is only the first motherboard to be mad. They are planning to make better models under the SAM name.

The current promotional prices for the board until thr end of September are:

€332 for a 533Mhz CPU, 512MB Ram, ATI Radeon M9 64MB and Audio 5.1
€489 for a 667MHz CPU, and everything else the same.

[Puni/Void]

My god! I can't believe that something is finally happening after all those years of waiting.

Do you have any new info on the lawsuit between Amiga Inc. and Hyperion, Harrison? Seems like they must have come to some kind of agreement.

Anyway, this is great, great news!

Does any of you have any plans to purchase the new hardware?

[Buleste]

The SAM440ep has been around for a while but i'd be amazed if Amiga Inc let this go without a fight. Mind you with prices for just the Mobo starting at 332 euros on special offer without the OS it'll be at least 450 euros for a MOBO and OS not including drives. With a case and say 150GB HDD it'll be 600 euros for the lowest spec CPU mimimum. Don't think i'm going to rush out just yet.

[Puni/Void]

The SAM440ep has been around for a while but i'd be amazed if Amiga Inc let this go without a fight. Mind you with prices for just the Mobo starting at 332 euros on special offer without the OS it'll be at least 450 euros for a MOBO and OS not including drives. With a case and say 150GB HDD it'll be 600 euros for the lowest spec CPU mimimum. Don't think i'm going to rush out just yet.

What do you think will happen if Amiga Inc. decides to put their foot down? Can they hinder the sales?

As for the prices, it is of course a lot of money, but if you compare it to the prices on classic second-hand Amiga hardware, it's not that bad in my opinion.

[Harrison]

I don't think they could stop production and sale of the actual hardware, could they? Nothing unique or specifically Amiga based in that as far as I can tell. But they might be able to block OS4.1 being sold for it I suppose.

[Puni/Void]

Hopefully everything will turn out OK. Let's hope that Amiga Inc. doesn't cause any major trouble.

Are you thinking about purchasing the board and the OS, Harrison? I know you're having a clear out these days, but isn't it a little bit tempting to get a machine to run OS 4.1 on?

[Buleste]

They wouldn't be able to stop sales of the hardware as it's been on sale for a while. However they would be able to block OS4.1 being supplied with the hardware and the release of the modifications required to run OS4.1 on the hardware.

Whilst the price is comparable to full classic Amiga systems the OS and thne hardware will not have the compatability or the versitility of classic Amiga hardware. Save money and see what NatAmi is like. It'll be more worthwhile.

Besides if you want to run OS4 get a BPPC and a Bvision and run OS4 Classic

[Harrison]

I'm not personally that interested in the PPC or OS4 branch of Amiga hardware and software. I'm more than happy playing around with classicamiga Amiga stuff.

I'm also interested in seeing what the NatAmi is like.

[Tiago]

I also have more interest in natami then this one, but it could be a nice hardware.

But a minimum of 332 euros is a bit expansive....
What can you run from the 68k software in OS4.1? And games?

[Harrison]

OS4 isn't compatible with 68K software. You therefore have to rely on 68K JIT emulation and then only software that doesn't need the original custom chip set will probably run. So games are out of the question.

Obviously you also have other OSs you could install on a PPC based computer such as Linux. Not sure about MorphOS2. Will then run on this hardware?